BOOK REVIEW: Dirty Letters by Vi Keeland, Penelope Ward

Dirty Letters by Vi Keeland, Penelope Ward
Purchase on: Amazon
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Synopsis:

I’d never forgotten him—a man I’d yet to meet.

Griffin Quinn was my childhood pen pal, the British boy who couldn’t have been more different from me. Over the years, through hundreds of letters, we became best friends, sharing our deepest, darkest secrets and forming a connection I never thought could break.

Until one day it did.

Then, out of the blue, a new letter arrived. A scathing one—one with eight years of pent-up anger. I had no choice but to finally come clean as to why I stopped writing.

Griffin forgave me, and somehow we were able to rekindle our childhood connection. Only now we were adults, and that connection had grown to a spark. Our letters quickly went from fun to flirty to downright dirty, revealing our wildest fantasies. So it only made sense that we would take our relationship to the next level and see each other in person.

Only Griff didn’t want to meet. He asked that I trust him and said it was for the best. But I wanted more—more Griff, in the flesh—so I took a big chance and went looking for him. People have done crazier things for love.

But what I found could change everything.

 

What the BLEEP this is so cute *goes and cries and blames it on pregnancy hormones*. I had been in SUCH a reading rut, you guys. I seriously have like five books on my currently reading list on GR right now and I finished this gem IN A DAY. I just have NOT been in the mood to read. I mean, two of those books I even am re-listening to and that takes up way less time and concentration than reading a physical book and I still haven’t even been able to bring myself to play those for more than a few snippets at a time during the day.

When I came across this book last week, I knew I had to read it. I haven’t read a book by these two ladies in a while but I had remembered that the few I had picked up in the past, I had enjoyed. This story line though, was something that really piqued my interest. I myself had a pen pal when I was in high school and on through part of my early college years. I’m going to be straight up with you, I was basically in love with this kid. He was two years older than me and when I met him at fifteen during a church retreat and got into some shenanigans with him, my friend that had been with me, his sister and friends, obviously I was star struck. What fifteen year old isn’t going to dumbstruck by the fact that a SENIOR is handwriting her these fucking letters and making her feel special. Wowwowwow. We had an actual ~thing~ for a few short months when I was 16 and things ended for a few different reasons. We still kept in touch after that though and wrote more letters throughout the years until I started dating my now-husband. I still have all those letters and actually pulled them out today to read. Funny stuff. I REALLY wish I could go back and read some of the crap that I had written. Must have been just hilarious/very awkward. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if we had met later when texting was a more prevalent thing but I am SO glad we didn’t. Writing those letters was such a fond memory I will always have and has such a more romantic and exciting feel than lame-ass texting. Kids these days should really take some notes on this, I swear lol.

Anywayyyyy I loved every bit of this book. The letters were obviously one of my favorite parts but there was just so much more. What happened in Luca’s past was…wow holy shit I had not expected that. Seeing that event shaped her life after that too was incredibly interesting to see. You KNOW that people suffer from that same kind of fear and anxiety in everyday life and I can’t even comprehend how crippling that would be (and that’s coming from someone who is from a small town and still lives in a relatively small place with not a lot of crowds). Watching Griffin easily accept those parts of her and do his best to just be there for her despite what his lifestyle is like was just….so good. There was never any unnecessary drama (at least I didn’t think so) which is always one of the top things I look for in a romance and the ending was so sweet I teared up. ALSO, I cackled out loud so many times. Like when Luca and Doc finally make it to Griffin’s and he’s pretending like he doesn’t already know it’s her and has ordered that specific food and is saying all of those leading things. I legit was laughing maniacally. So glad I was home alone hahaha. UGH, perfection…ALL OF IT. This is certainly a book that I will revisit for years to come.

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